Hermes Impact Opportunities will be launched next year, underpinned by a ‘philosophical foundation’ to increase prosperity in society through sustainable impact investing and only investing in companies linked to at least one UN Sustainable Development Goal.

Impact Earth is the first blockchain platform to support origination, development and management of real estate impact investments in developing countries that support the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainability Development Goals (SDG).

Hermes Investment Management has started the countdown to Christmas with a set of articles on its website – the two, covering responsible investing in emerging markets and ESG factors in credit risks, have already been revealed in a sort of ‘investment advent calendar’.

Two of the largest global investors, BlackRock and Vanguard, who have previously shown a responsible attitude to climate risk, particularly in voting at Exxon last spring, have also produced mixed voting records at other companies.

European Union with the support of the Ministry of the Environment, the Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban) and WWF-Brazil, brought together 22 financial institutions and 70 Brazilian and European companies at the EU-Brazil Green Business Forum event, pinpointing adequate funding as the major barrier for progress.

Legal and General has announced GBP300m of long-term acquisition debt in support of Danish pension funds, PKA and PFA consortium’s £2bn purchase of half of Walney Extension - the world’s largest offshore wind farm with a capacity of 660 megawatt (MW), providing enough power for over 590,000 homes.

Lloyd’s Corporation has announced it is implementing a coal exclusion policy as part of its responsible investment strategy for the Central Fund. The new policy will apply to assets held in segregated portfolios, which account for approximately 75 per cent of Central Fund investments.

Zurich Insurance Group has announced that it will be doubling its impact investments and it will also set innovative new impact targets – possibly the first private-sector investor to introduce impact targets for its investment portfolio.

IKEA has started construction of a 32,000 sqm store in Greenwich store designed to be both more sustainable in itself, help promote a more sustainable lifestyle it its users and aid the company’s ambitions in creating a circular economy.

Ellen MacArthur and Stella McCartney have co-hosted the launch of a new report 'A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning fashion's future' in London. The report, created by the Circular Fibres Initiative, calls for the fashion industry to adopt this new vision and create cross industry collaborations to achieve it.

The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) has announced the results of its 2017 Week of Giving, reporting a 20 per cent increase in volunteering, to a total of 10,200 insurance professionals joining together to support those in need.

For World Children’s Day, Thomas Kirk Kristiansen, chairman of the LEGO Foundation and chief marketing officer of the LEGO Group Julia Goldin will be stepping aside in favour of younger candidates, in this case aged between 9 and 10.

Technology company Provenance is leading a collaboration of fintech startups to test whether blockchain technology can help unlock financial incentives that improve transparency and sustainability in supply chains.

In the lingering aftermath of the emissions scandal, a former Volkswagen executive has received a seven years sentence and a USD400,000 fine, after admitting his role in helping the carmaker evade US clean-air laws.

In light of the desire for investors, employees, consumers and all stakeholders to understand corporations’ position on environmental, social, and governance performance, the concept of fully integrated reports has gained momentum.

In a wide-ranging Budget, Philip Hammond found time to address some environmental concerns, introducing measures to aid the introduction of electric cars, address issues of air quality and spread of waste plastic.

Insurance Europe, the European insurance and reinsurance federation, has called on policymakers to help them do more for sustainable investment by addressing the limited supply of sustainable assets, thus helping avoid crowding out private investors from those assets and adjusting the prudential framework on insurers’ long-term investments to better reflect the risks faced.